Black Eyed Peas launch new multimedia academy

Amid all the news surrounding government budget cuts and a reduction in funding for arts organisations, it’s good to see a story about artists willing to give something back to the community.

Black Eyed Peas have announced their plans to expand their network of multimedia academies in the US to four institutions. The group is preparing to open a song and video production centre in lower Manhattan that will aim to provide multimedia training for 13 to 19-year-olds.

Working in collaboration with Adobe Software and the Urban Arts Partnership, the group’s Peapod Foundation aims to provide students with technology, space and instruction.

The latest centre will sit alongside three other academies that have already been opened up in California and will be in full operation by July this year.

It will be a high-tech studio where student artists spend their days after-school, on Saturdays and in the summer, creating social justice-inspired work with professional-grade equipment and professional mentors.

The Urban Arts Partnership already provides school-based art programs for thousands of city kids. For many, it is their only exposure to serious arts instruction.

“Our passion for music and media was fueled by many generous people on our road to success,” the Peas’ Will.i.am explained. “Expanding the network of Peapod Adobe Youth Voices academies enables us to pay it forward, giving more youth the skills and encouragement they need to realise their dreams.”

Potential students hoping to get on courses in the academy will be accepted into the based on recommendations from teachers and interest in subject areas such as camera work, editing and graphic design.

The six-time Grammy Award winners’ Peapod Foundation was set up in 2005 as a vehicle of social change that aims to unite people through the “universal language of music”.